“Interstellar” Thoughtful and Adventurous

Before seeing “Interstellar,” I suggest you do a little research. Check out terms like “worm holes,” “black holes” and perhaps even “extra-dimensional space.” You don’t have to know a lot, but a little understanding will help clear up this film’s ambitious scientific plot elements.

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Set in the farm belt in near future, it is clear our planet is in trouble. Famine is the issue. A constant epidemic of gigantic dust storms have ravaged farming and the health of the very air that remains breathable. The armies of the world have been disbanded. NASA has been shut down. (A very liberal educational agenda is now teaching kids the moon landing never really happened.) Matthew McConaughey plays a retired NASA test pilot who is a single father and lives on a farm with his father, daughter and her older brother. Early in the movie, the film’s scoring and cinematography cast the perfect spell of a world on the brink of disaster. There is even an element of documentary narrative that really gives the storyline validity.

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Through a set of surprising circumstances, McConaughey’s salty old astronaut character discovers the underground (literally) remains of a NASA space program that is secretly trying to come up with solutions to find new places for planet Earth to be regenerated in the vast expanses of space. They have one big launch rocket and a space exploration vehicle. The programs is run by an aged NASA executive played by Michael Caine. They have already launched one space vehicle and a crew of 3 whose mission was to find new havens. That crew disappeared into a black hole near Saturn and has not been heard from since. McConaughey’s partners on the pending second space shot to find them and check out possibilities will be a couple of NASA scientists, one of whom is Caine’s daughter, played by Anne Hathaway.

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“Interstellar” is a sc-fi super movie that demands attention and a good level of concentration. Running 2 hours and 25 minutes, it has a very detailed script. The motion picture excels on many levels, not the least of which is combining hard core science with equally compelling personal elements of parenthood and the future of mankind.

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The supporting cast of “Interstellar” is out of this world too. It includes Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon. You get the feeling half of Hollywood wanted their names in this movie’s cast.

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The vistas and depiction of other planets are visualize impressive and thought-provoking. Near the film’s ending, shades of “2001″ are present relating to the time and space continuum. Certainly the movie has some over-simplistic elements, but generally its science and approach to the future and prospective worlds beyond our galaxy and universe are laudable. Perhaps you’ll need a touch of spiritual belief to really embrace “Interstellar.” Whatever the case, this is a motion picture unafraid of its own convictions and well-worth your time and thoughtful immersion into its world.